


Snippets of Stolen Hours

by amandasarmada



Series: The Space Between [3]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Ficlet, Ficlet Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-11-08
Packaged: 2018-02-24 15:23:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2586356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amandasarmada/pseuds/amandasarmada
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at what happened between CJ and Danny between the end of “Requiem” and the beginning of “Institutional Memory.” More or less a collection of drabbles, but I plan on expanding a few out at some point. Honestly, I just thought it was a bit weird that the show jumps from early November to late January in only a few episodes, and I wanted to explore what could have happened in between Danny and C.J. first sleeping together, to Danny and C.J. picking up and moving to California. This is a glimpse at that.  Hovers between "T" and "M."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snippets of Stolen Hours

**Author's Note:**

> My take on what happened after Requiem. The nicknames in brackets in the text conversation at the beginning were just how I thought they might have entered each other's name in their phones. It's dumb and corny but I'm the writer so I get to do stuff like that if I want. :)
> 
> By the way, I plan on expanding what happened at the holidays when it gets closer to that time of year, but in the meantime I figured they worked better as separate fics anyway, because of the way this chapter is formatted. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, please leave a review if you liked it!

**Friday, November 10, 2006**

It was 11:15 and Donna was presumably asleep one room over, and C.J. Cregg was antsy. The excitement of knowing she'd be back with Danny that night, of reliving the happiness she'd felt a couple of nights ago, only to have it squashed after a few hours was starting to get to her. And she was pretty sure Danny was annoyed with her now on top of that.

She blew a stray hair out of her face, stretching out on her bed and grabbing her cell phone. Before she had time to think about it, she'd picked up her phone and was composing a text.

**[CJ!] 11:17pm:**

Hey. What are you up to?

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:18pm:**

Sitting in my empty apartment alone, eating ice cream out of the carton and crying.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:18pm:**

I got rejected by a beautiful woman today.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:18pm:**

She used me for a booty call then dumped me for a hot blonde.

**[CJ!] 11:19pm:**

You're blonde too, nimrod.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:19pm:**

But not a hot one, apparently.

**[CJ!] 11:19pm:**

Stop sulking.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:19pm:**

Why? You gonna sneak out once she's asleep and come ravish me?

C.J. bit her lip. She'd actually been thinking about it, but he didn't need to know that.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:22pm:**

You there?

**[CJ!] 11:23pm:**

Yeah.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:24pm:**

You wanna come over tomorrow night?

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:24pm:**

Or we could go to dinner first.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:24pm:**

Or I could make you dinner.

**[CJ!] 11:25pm:**

Well, I could come over but it'd be really late.

**[CJ!] 11:25pm:**

?

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:26pm:**

I can't wait to touch you again

C.J. fiddled with her hair, staring at the text. Her heart was racing, remembering the way he'd ran his hands over her, and the sounds that had escaped her as he'd traced the curves of her body.

**[CJ!] 11:28pm:**

It was kind of amazing.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:28pm:**

It was.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:28pm:**

Which is why we should do it again.

**[Danny FishBoy] 11:28pm:**

Right now if you want.

C.J. bit her lip. The room next door was silent. She stood up, walking over to her vanity and gazing at herself in the mirror. She pulled the clip out of her hair, watching it fall to her shoulders. The memory of Danny running his hands through it, the sound of his breathing as they rolled around, the way he'd smiled at her as he'd ran his hands over her – all traveled through her mind as she watched her reflection.

**[CJ!] 11:31pm:**

Give me 20 minutes.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On Saturday C.J. found a vase full of sunflowers waiting for her on her desk, with a carton of goldfish crackers next to it. She grinned, taking a second when she sat down to email Danny a simple heart icon, possibly the first emoticon she'd ever used, and certainly the first time she'd used that one.

On Sunday she had a day from hell, and she showed up at his apartment unannounced a few minutes after eleven, exhausted. They discovered that Danny's couch wasn't quite big enough to fit two people laying down (even if they were lying very very close together). C.J. spent the next day rubbing a giant bruise on her upper thigh, marking the spot where she'd banged her leg on the coffee table on their way from the couch to the floor. That night she was back on his couch again though, listening to herself gasp as Danny kissed her bruise, then slowly moved his mouth a few inches up.

On Tuesday it was a link to a song sitting in her inbox, with a message congratulating her on her success that day in getting the education bill passed - and mentioning that if she'd like, there was a dance and a back rub waiting for her at his place that night to celebrate. As it turned out, she liked it very, very much.

On Thursday she came back from an interview in which she'd completely slammed Taylor Reid, finding a tube of tootsie rolls sitting next to Gail's bowl. Someone – and she had a pretty shrewd idea who – had written in silver sharpie, “You're on a roll this week!” C.J. snorted, tossing a candy in her mouth.

On Saturday she was finally able to take him up on one of his dinner invitations. He'd beamed at her across the table, then seriously asked her if she minded going out with him again before the administration had left office. She told him as long as they kept things light for now, it was okay. And so, he made her laugh with his Taylor Reid impression, and she told him about her favorite movies and they traded stories on the similarities of growing up in Michigan versus Ohio, and that night he murmured sweet nothings in her ear as she curled up beside him in his apartment.

On the next Monday he called and asked her if she was planning on taking the Bartlet's up on their offer to spend Thanksgiving in Manchester. She told him truthfully she hadn't really thought about it, and he mentioned very casually that he'd gotten an invite too. And so a few days later, C.J. found herself trying not to get gravy on her sweater, while secretly holding hands under the table, subtly aware of Abbey Bartlet's calculating smirk.

On Sunday night she went over to Danny's place again, knocking on his door at a quarter after eleven. She greeted him with a smile and a kiss, and he made her dinner (mac and cheese and mashed potatoes, like her mom used to make her) and they curled up that night innocently with their clothes still on, although the next morning she couldn't say the same, particularly when she joined him in the shower.

On Wednesday there was a Notre Dame baseball cap sitting on her chair when she entered her office, with a note attached that read, “You looked so cute in the last one – and anyway, they don't give out letterman jackets for A.V. Club.” She smirked, picking up the hat and twirling it around, laughing.

A couple of weeks later, as Mid-December rolled around, she mentioned on the phone one morning that she'd walked to work that day, and that evening she found him sitting on the couch in her office with two steaming cups and an extra scarf that he draped around her as he walked her home, their hands locked together through their gloves. He'd brought her hot chocolate from Starbucks that they drank on the way, and he insisted on cooking her dinner before he left (although as it turned out, he ended up cooking her breakfast, too). As they ate she casually mentioned that she wanted to spend her last Christmas at the White House in Washington, and he eagerly invited her to spend the holiday with him at his place, which she did.

The Wednesday after Christmas she showed up unannounced again, finding Danny up late typing away for a story. She did her best to seduce him in her half-asleep state, and this turned out to be incredibly effective, as the chair in Danny's home office could now attest to.

On New Year's Eve they kissed at midnight, and Danny coaxed her into wearing a dorky party hat as they stood on the White House lawn with a group of the staff, lighting sparklers. He wrapped his arms around her as he stood behind her, kissing her cheek, and she barely noticed Donna and Josh making eyes at each other a few feet away.

By the first week in January her workload had her stretched thinner than ever as she tried to juggle the transition with getting every morsel of opportunity out while she still could, yet she was spending several nights a week at his place, unable to help herself as they snatched at the stolen hours, rolling around in Danny's bed before they passed out from sheer exhaustion.

All this, until a seemingly innocuous Tuesday in the second week of January, which ended up changing everything.


End file.
